Finance Ministry Considers Advancing Union Budget To February 1

New Delhi: A Cabinet note lists the big changes that the Narendra Modi government plans to make in the Budget process, including advancing the presentation of the Union Budget by almost a month.

The Finance Ministry note, accessed by NDTV, proposes merging the railway and union budgets, with the Finance Minister presenting it on February 1 this year. For this, it proposes, the Budget session of Parliament can be convened before January 25.

The budget process will start three weeks early, in the first week of October and a mid-year review by the department of expenditure in the finance ministry will be completed by November 15, the note says.

In a month after that, by December 25 this year, the government proposes to complete the key process of consulting industries and other 123456 stakeholders. GDP projections by the department of statistics will be done by January 7, it says.  

Parliament's three-week recess in the long Budget session will also be advanced, beginning in mid February.

With the Rail Budget merged with the Union Budget, the railways convention committee will be disbanded and the railways will be treated as other major sectors are in the main budget.

Once cabinet approves the budget advancement, the budget division of the finance ministry will start the budget making process.

Uttar Pradesh and Punjab, among other states, are going to polls early next year. However, the government is determined to go ahead with the advancement of the budget to ensure timely utilisation.